Saturday, May 05, 2018

This isn't pretty. It's ugly. It includes a raid by the FBI!Dennis Paul, endorsed by the NRA, can't seem to raise money except from his own company and another engineering firm that was raided by the FBI. Paul owns Paul Engineering which has loaned his campaign over $150,000. His current ethics report has his loan balance at $156,000 with a cash on hand balance of only $37,089.32. He only raised 47,237.93 during his last period which included $5000 from James Dannebaum, his biggest contributor.

According to the San Antonio Express and News Dannenbaum has a "controversial history along the Texas border" which included a raid from the FBI. From the Express News:

Dannenbaum Engineering has stirred a lot of controversy as it has grown into one of the dominant engineering companies in South Texas over the past 30 years. On April 26, the FBI executed a broad raid of its offices across the state, including in San Antonio, to gather records related to the company’s pursuit of infrastructure projects in the Laredo area. A decade ago, reports from the El Paso Times and other media outlets linked the company to another FBI corruption probe in El Paso County.

Ouch. I guess engineers stick together. Other donors include a number of PAC's including $1000 from the USAA Employee PAC. (USAA is an insurance company) But....back to the $156,000 loan. Paul is one of the few individuals who bought his nomination to represent the Republic Party. Much like Kathleen Wall who put over $6 Million of her own money to buy the nomination for CD2. She lost. Paul didn't.

Dennis might want to remember nothing good comes from an FBI raid. Ask Paul Manafort. Or Michael Cohen. He might want to considering returning the $5000 and borrowing from his company again.